Image 1: A Pacific Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus), enjoys its lunch. (source: Industrius Info)
Since 1993, data on Pacific Giant Salamanders has been collected in/along Mack Creek, part of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Western Cascade Mountains of Oregon. This data collection is part of a larger effort, begun in 1987 to monitor local cutthroat trout populations (2). The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is a research site supported jointly by the University of Oregon and the U.S. Forest Service, and funded as part of the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research program (1). Data collection for Pacific Giant Salamanders occurs in two distinct areas, a coniferous old-growth forest and a clear-cut area (c. 1963) (2). Observations gathered pertaining to salamander abundance, weight, type, and location can provide insight as to how the species is affected by factors such as climate change, land use, and other disturbances over time (1).
Image 2: Location overview of H.J. Andrews Experiment Forest (source: H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest)
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Data for Pacific giant salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus) abundance, size, and location from 1993-2017 were culled from the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest LTER site. Salamanders were captured and measured using electrofishing equipment in Mack Creek, which flows through an upstream coniferous old growth forest and a downstream clear cut forest (harvested in 1963). Many variables were collected for each salamander observed, including weight and location both in the forest section and channel classification. Data were collected each year in August and September (1).
RStudio (version 1.2.5001) was used to produce figures and analyze data via \(\chi\)2 tests, 2-sample Welch’s t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests, and requisite post-hoc testing. A significance level of (\(\alpha\)) of 0.05 was used for all tests for statistical significance.